Made it!

I made it through Thursday at work, which has been my goal this whole pregnancy. Whoo-hoo! I wish I had brought my camera to work so I could have snapped a picture of my classroom. The only other time of the year it looks that good is a few minutes before the kids walk in on the first day of school. And all my plans are laid out for Nancy, so this is the first weekend in a long time I won't have to work on any plans!

Now the waiting/guessing game begins. When will this little one make an appearance? Darrin and I have plans for the next few days, and we're playing the, "Will we be able to do them or not?" game. They're not major plans, so if the little one decides to show, we'd be fine with that. My plans are with Marlena, and I know she'd be joyous if we had to cancel plans because of the baby. She heads out of town for at least a week starting Wednesday and is worried I'll go late. She missed Ian's birth because of a trip, too. I keep teasing her it will be the same way this time around as well.

Ian has asked the past few times when picked up from day care, "Is my baby here?" According to Angie, he talks about the baby a lot and how he's going to help take care of it. I hope that all comes true! This morning at breakfast he repeated something he said last night as we were getting ready for bed, "Annaliese is in your belly and Isaac is in my big belly." Tried explaining that's not how it really worked, but it's pretty hard to reason with a three-year-old sometimes. He keeps flip-flopping back and forth between saying he wants to bring Isaac or Annaliese home from the hospital.

I just finished washing the dishes and pulling some banana chocolate-chip bars from the oven. Now we'll at least have snacks to eat when we bring the baby home. Perhaps I should have prepped a few main meals, too... I'm convinced that woman near their due dates nest not because of the impending baby, but because of the impending guests. During the few contractions I had last night, as I'm laying in bed wondering if this is the real thing, all I can think is, "Please let me have Friday to clean my house!" I haven't been home for the past two nights because of conferences, and it shows.

Here's some recent pictures of Ian:

Sigh of Relief

If I can accomplish what I need to today (finish lesson plans and quilt binding), I think I'll be as prepared as I can be for the baby. Well, prepared enough that I won't be stressing if I should go early, because I really would like to make it through this next week at work (only students Mon-Wed with conferences on Thursday).

Here's a look at the quilt so far and the outfits we've picked out to bring either Annaliese or Isaac home from the hospital in. The clothes look so small on the quilt! All that's left is to hand sew the binding down on three sides.

This is a close-up view of the quilting. I free-motioned an actual quilt (only the border) for the first time in my life. The only other things I've done are a Miranda bag and a fat-quarter sandwich. It took about two hours of figuring out the tension and ripping and only about 15 minutes to actually quilt. During those 15 minutes I forced myself to keep going no matter what- however it looked was how it was going to end up. I think it turned out WAY better than I expected, and I love the variegated thread. I learned a few things, too: fast speed but slow hands is key; small loops are easier than big loops; and I've got to figure out a way to move the quilt more smoothly, either change the way I hold it or something. (The colors in this picture are washed-out. The full quilt shot above is more true to the way the quilt looks).
I'd just like to note that this quilt wouldn't have been possible without the ladies at Country Sampler, as they stayed open late helping me pick out the fabric, then I went back a different day and they helped me find the perfect thread, and when I stopped in this week to pick up fabric for another project, they remembered exactly who I was and asked if it was done yet. They rock!

So, what do you think: will it be an Annaliese or an Isaac who gets the quilt?

He's Officially Three!

Ian turned three on Saturday and we had a great time celebrating with family and friends. The weather cooperated enough for my grandparents, parents, sister, and in-laws to make it in from Iowa. Ian did a great job entertaining everyone with his antics. It's pretty interesting to see how he changes when he has a crowd's attention instead of just mom and dad's. Here are a few pictures of the day:

The theme was Caterpillar construction. Hy-Vee made the cake for us, and I filled the back end of his dump truck with ice cream and topped it with crushed chocolate and honey Teddy Grahams.

Ian's cake wasn't the only dessert at the party. My sister Cara and her husband Shawn surprised my parents and grandparents with some news of their own. When everyone thought I was going to bring in the ice cream, Cara brought in this instead:

He got lots of presents, and while he didn't really care about the stack of clothes he got, I was very excited by them. He was more taken with his books, tractors, kitchen set, and felt food.

Now it's just a waiting game for Ian's brother or sister to arrive. I got a nice start on quilting the quilt yesterday, but my guilty conscience took over and I had to put it aside to work on lesson plans. Hopefully his sibling holds off until my to-do list is diminished!

He's almost three...

and says the cutest things. In the last 1.5 hours I've been home from work, he's said the following things:

While eating supper tonight, his piece of bread had a hole in it. I told him that air put it there. He responded to that with, "Or maybe a mouse."

During bath tonight, he said, "I want to stay in a bit longer." Darrin replied, "Or you could play with Mack." That was followed by an immediate, "GET ME OUT! I can't wait to play with Mack!"


And for those of you who just read the previous one and thought, "Mack? Who's Mack?" That would be Mack, the semi-hauler for McQueen from the movie Cars (a.k.a. the early birthday present Ian got because Darrin accidentally left the hiding place open and Ian saw it). So tonight, Ian went over to where we had hidden it and said, "Hmmm, anything else in there?"-opened then door, and said, "Nope!"

Yesterday Ian came home from day care in a pair of Ava's purple pants. We tried to snap a picture because he looked so darn cute in those purple pants, but he wasn't much for it. This was the best one we got:

This Time Around

My due date is exactly one month from today and I can't believe it. Things are so different this time around. Every waking moment when we were pregnant with Ian was preparing for him. Now, every waking minute is spent with him, and preparation has to happen after he goes to bed, or between the fits he throws because Mommy's too busy to play with him.

Other different things: This picture is the first one we've taken of my pregnant self. With Ian, we took one about every week. We didn't think Ian could get here fast enough. By this point, we were prepared for him to come at any time. Not this time around. The bag isn't packed, and the quilt, which for Ian was done at least a month before he was born, is sandwiched. It's not getting touched, though, until I have my plans done for school. And we've made enough progress in the last week that we're ready on the home front, but I've got a birthday party to hold before another birth happens.

There are little things that are different between this baby and Ian. I'm a lot more comfortable this time around and nimble. Could be because I'm busy playing with a toddler on the floor, but who knows. I'm not as swollen and I don't have as much heartburn. These things I know because I kept a journal with Ian. If we have a third, though, what I recall from this pregnancy will simply be from memory as I didn't keep one this time around. We are having to recall how much Ian moved. This one moves so much we think it's impossible for Ian to have moved more.

I've had three co-workers give birth in the last 3 weeks, all having 6-pound babies, and two of which went early (which has put the idea of going early more in the forefront of my mind, and I DO NOT want to go early!). I told my midwife this yesterday and she said she's pretty sure mine's already 6-pounds, and I'm pretty sure she's right about that. Ian was over 8, and my guess is this one will be too, especially because there are four more weeks to go!

Just thought I'd write a quick post to show no baby yet- Now, off to write some plans so I can get to that quilt before the baby arrives!

Ponderings...

I just finished typing up my spelling plans for the month of March for my maternity leave. One thing done for the sub, only a billion more left to do. Now I'm sitting here thinking: should I work on the next thing for the sub, or the next thing for the baby. It's a lose-lose if you ask me. When I'm working on baby stuff (the quilt, arranging the room, making lists of things still needed) my brain wanders and I think of all the stuff I have left to do to prepare for the sub. And it's vice-versa when I'm working on school stuff- basically all I want to do is finish the baby quilt. Not to mention the daily stuff I still must do because I have a two-year-old and a hubby. I try to rationalize it by saying do school stuff at school and home stuff at home, but it's hard to get ahead at school. Plus the way it's been lately, I'm never actually AT school.

Case in point, Ian learned the word puke this week. We were up all Wednesday night with him, so he stayed home on Thursday. Whatever he had everyone else at daycare must have gotten, including the provider, because she was home sick Friday. So, those were days missed of work this week. Darrin did stay home with him on Thursday, because I was already scheduled to be gone at a conference that day. So, with Monday (MLK), Thursday, and Friday out of the building, I was there a whopping two days to be productive.

Ian also learned some more other words this week: February 13- his birthday. We're having a construction-themed party of just family and the traditional Sunday crew. No other little kiddos. I don't think I would have the patience for more kids two weeks before the due date. So aside from preparing sub plans, and prepping the house for the baby, I'm prepping for a birthday bash as well (dump truck cake, anyone?).

So I guess I'm just pondering where exactly to exert my energy, without exerting too much energy and going into premature labor.

And on a complete different pondering topic- my hubby. I have always known he was handy with a computer, but not so much a fixer-up kinda guy. Apparently I was wrong. In the past two weeks, he's installed new closet organization systems in both of our closets, repaired our roof, installed a new microwave above our stove, and is now out in the garage finishing his workbench and installing a different wall organization system- with the garage door open and snow falling outside no less. Who is this man? And will he be staying long?

It's Amazing

what one can accomplish in a weekend. I don't know if it's the impending due date (six weeks) or Ian's impending birthday party (four weeks) but this 3-day weekend saw us get a lot of stuff done around the house AND have time for fun. Fun stuff first...

Darrin and I had probably our last date night before the baby is born. For Christmas he gave me tickets to see Little House on the Prairie the Broadway musical playing here in Omaha at the Orpheum. We went out to eat first at a restaurant called Taste. We never would have ventured there had it not been suggested to me by two friends on Facebook. It has a very contemporary atmosphere, which is different for us, but the food and service was fantastic. I had a salad with coconut-crusted chicken topped with a strawberry-pineapple puree. I wish they would have served the puree in a glass, because it's the closest I've come to a strawberry daiquiri in awhile. Darrin had an 6-hour roasted pork roast and it was yummy, too. The service was so fast that we got downtown early enough to stop and grab ice cream from Ted and Wally's. The show was pretty good. Not as great as The Lion King, which I'd seen there, but it made me laugh and smile, so that's good. It's been awhile since I've read the Little House books, so some things I remember didn't match up with the show, and that frustrated me.

On to the productive weekend...

I got the center for the baby quilt done this weekend. All it needs is the borders on before I can sandwich it. This is a miraculous event if you ask me, considering I didn't even buy the fabric until Thursday. Saturday the girls came over for sewing, and I got the blocks 2/3 of the way done. Finished them up yesterday, and pieced it today. I've always wondered how people get some quilts done so fast, and now I know- you must choose the right pattern. Apparently I've been picking out waaaayyyy to time-consuming of patterns. This pattern went together so quickly. I could see myself using it over and over again. And to think until earlier this past week I had given up the thought of even having it started before the baby's arrival.

That's about it for my productivity this weekend. My goal was to get the first week of lesson plans written for my sub, but I was too excited thinking I could actually get the top pieced that I didn't get them all done. I did force myself to finish MOST of the things on my school to-do list before I worked on the quilt. Darrin, however, had an even more productive weekend. Our microwave went kaput on Friday, so he installed a new one for us. We've had really bad ice dams with all of our snow, and they finally melted off the roof, so he climbed the roof and glued down some of our shingles that had been lifted. And he installed a new closet system for himself (during the middle of the night a few weeks ago while we were sleeping, we heard a noise. Turned the light on and his closet shelves had just pulled right out of the wall). I like it so much I'm hoping he can do mine next weekend. He has been very handy lately, and I've been very impressed.

I'm wondering if all this productivity may have nothing to do with the impending dates, but instead the gloomy weather we've had. No snow, but no sun. Just fog 24 hours a day. The only neat thing about it is that it's really pretty when it freezes to the trees at night:

And, just because no post for me is really complete without a picture of Ian. Here he is after sledding down the hill in our backyard. The snow was very crusty on top and he wasn't heavy enough to indent it at all, so he FLEW down the hill. He probably would have crashed head-first into our house had it not been for the snowdrift in front of it (over his sandbox). He went feet and head first into it, and decided that was enough sledding for the day. As adventurous as he is, I doubt we get him back on the sled at all this season...
He also claimed Darrin's closet as his "house", and was a bit disappointed to see it get filled up with clothes.